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| Rangarajan’s task force recommendations gathering dust | | Two expert panels, two reports; J&K underdeveloped, Lakhs still unemployed | |
Syed Junaid Hashmi
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 9: With observations and recommendations of the task force on the development of Jammu and Kashmir gathering dust in the office of the heads of centre and the state government, recently released report of another expert group is likely to meet the same fate.
Reasons are obvious. Both the reports have been penned down by ace economist and Chairman of Prime Minister’s economic advisory council Dr C. Rangarajan along with experts, mostly based in New Delhi or elsewhere in the country. Both the groups were constituted by Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and both met respective Chief Minister’s of Jammu and Kashmir before finalizing their respective reports.
Task force on the development of Jammu and Kashmir was constituted by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on March 29, 2005. It held eight meetings in all between April 2005 and October 2006. Seven of these meetings were held in New Delhi. The task force held consultations with the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammed Sayeed on August 26, 2006. This task force submitted a recommendatory report to the Prime Minister in November 2006.
Major recommendations of this task force included transfer of 390 MW Dulhasti hydroelectric project and 1020 MW bursar multipurpose project to Jammu and Kashmir alongside undertaking projects with attractive tariff on priority basis which included Kiru (430 MW), Kawar (320MW), Ralte (560 MW) and Shamnot (370 MW).
It had further recommended for completing restructuring and corporatization of PDD within specified time frame. It had also recommended for addressing issue of bad rural road connectivity and highlighted imbalance in road density across the state. New expert group constituted to formulate jobs plan for the state of Jammu and Kashmir was headed by the same man Dr. C. Rangarajan.
Its members included two state subjects Shakeel Qalander and Y.V.Sharma and all others were New Delhi based experts. These included N.R.Narayana Murthy, Tarun Das, T. Nanda Kumar, Bharat Vyas,. Sanjay Mitra and K. Skandan. It recommendations included department of agriculture being asked to consider simplifying procedures under MM-IV of the Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture and encouraging use of e-portal, decentralizing procedure for appraisal and grant of financial assistance and monitoring through banks and financial institutions.
It has also recommended for putting in place a PPP policy to address land related concerns in a practical manner for the tourism sector especially in creating hotels and resorts. It has further called for developing a Buddhist circuit in Ladakh (para 4.7) and also called for developing dargahs located at places of historical significance.
It has stressed for capacity building of the youth to act as khadims/shrine guides and setting up a working group with members from Ministries of Home, Defence, External Affairs and Indian Mountaineering Federation to undertake a comprehensive review of the restrictions (including those on the use of satellite phones) and subject to security concerns make relaxations wherever possible.
It has recommended for encouraging border tourism by developing the Suchetgarh border on the lines of the Wagah border and also for implementing carpet mega cluster in the Srinagar area in PPP mode. It has also recommended for setting up smaller carpet production centers with basic facilities in areas where there are 40-50 artisans. \
The group has also recommended for undertaking special industry initiative in PPP mode for J&K for enhancing skills and employability of 40,000 youth in five years. Companies that have expressed interest are Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Godrej & Boyce, BILT, Crompton Greaves, Avantha Group, Bajaj Auto, WWFI, JCB India, Tata Motors, Tata Global Beverages and Apollo Hospitals.
13 meetings of experts of two different panels headed by ace economist and Chairman of Prime Minister’s economic advisory council Dr C. Rangarajan have resulted in two reports being submitted to both the state and the union government for consideration but when the first report is lying unaddressed and unheeded, this one is likely to meet the same fate. The only good thing about this report is that it is a better intellectual exercise.
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